July 1, 2008

Learn how to design a workflow that runs when a specific field changes. In this example, when the Document Owner field changes, the workflow sends the new document owner a notification that contains the status of any workflows running on that document.

This video shows you how to create a mirror field to store the old or "before" value of a column, and then how to use conditions to ensure that the workflow runs only when the Document Owner field changes. This video also shows you how the conditions prevent recursive workflows, commonly known as an "infinite loop."

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Sample HTML: Send a notification that the document owner has changed

You can copy and paste this HTML directly into the Define E-mail Message dialog box. Then replace the lookup placeholders — including the brackets — with the actual workflow lookups. This HTML contains no whitespace and uses only inline styles for formatting.

<div style="font-family:Calibri;font-size:medium;color:blue"><p>You have been assigned as the owner of this document:</p><p style="margin-left:50px;font-family:Calibri;font-size:small;color:black">[*****Lookup Name*****]</p><p>Here is the status of any workflows running on this document:</p><table style="width: 75%;margin-left:50px;font-family:Calibri;font-size:small;color:black"><tr><td style="width: 170px">Review workflow:</td><td>[*****Lookup Workflow Status*****]</td></tr><tr><td style="width: 170px">Schedule workflow:</td><td>[*****Lookup Workflow Status*****]</td></tr><tr><td style="width: 170px">Mark as Final workflow:</td><td>[*****Lookup Workflow Status*****]</td></tr></table><p>For more information, contact the previous document owner:</p><p style="margin-left:50px;font-family:Calibri;font-size:small;color:black">[*****Lookup Document Owner (Before)*****]</p></div>